Two prominent internet service providers in the Netherlands say that they will not block customer access to the infamous The Pirate Bay web site based on the threats of an anti-piracy group. Two weeks ago the Hollywood backed anti-piracy outfit BREIN won a major victory when the Court of The Hague ruled that Ziggo and XS4ALL have to block access to The Pirate Bay. The two companies are the largest ISPs in the Netherlands.

Now BREIN wants two other ISP's in the country - KPN and T-Mobile – to follow suit, but both are defiant. They say the only way they will block the file-sharing site is if they are court ordered to do so.

“KPN sees the blocking of websites as a drastic measure for which a court order is required,” KPN said in a statement, adding that innovation is needed to curb piracy. “KPN doesn’t believe a blockade is the right solution. What is needed are robust, attractive business models that are easy to use and offer a fair deal to both producers and consumers of content.”

“T-Mobile strongly supports an open Internet and is fundamentally against shutting off access to websites. Dutch law is very clear when it comes to blocking access to the Internet. T-Mobile will only respond to a court ruling, not to demands from a private party such as BREIN.”

Ziggo and XS4ALL are expected to comply with the court order on February 1.

I agree with KPN's stance: Companies like BREIN would do well to understand why people pirate, and then work on fixing those reasons. Simply shutting down a service you don't like wastes so much time and resources and doesn't solve the problem at all.